


revolutionary

by eatjins



Series: the x clan [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Mutants, F/M, M/M, Other, based off the all in mv obvs, chars listed in age order (not order of importance), fem!changkyun, fem!kihyun, fem!wonho, lapslock bc i wrote it on my phone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7066171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatjins/pseuds/eatjins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together, and love and hope grows in the midst of despair.</p><p>alternately: that showho fic set in dystopian, genderswapped, mutant au.</p>
            </blockquote>





	revolutionary

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this on my phone in bits and pieces and have no regard for proper capitalisation because im trash lmao also i just desperately wanted some showho??????? yeah plus the fact that i think it's fun to genderswap/explore gender of idols so why not make wonho and some other members girls?????? if u dont think thats the most exciting thing ever get out right now this is not the fic for u
> 
> i will probably... want to write more in this au... leave... comments... pls.............
> 
>  **bold disclaimer!!!!!!!! exclamation marks!!!!!!:** i don't own the quote about mutation if ur an xmen fan u'll know when u see it pls don't kill me

she breathes in the harsh, cold air as she looks out over the city. what's left of it anyway. the houses lined along the rises and dips of the capital are crooked and broken; wonho remembers being all of five years old and holding onto her mother's hand as they'd watched the sunset.

"wonho-yah, no matter what happens, this city belongs to you. as part of the new generation you are the hope our future is made of, understand?" then she'd gone and died anyway, tainted by the blood that flowed through her veins. wonho turns around and stares sharply at the person behind her. it's always a bad idea to sneak up on her, but they'd gotten close enough that if her guard had been down they would've gotten to her.

"it's just me," hyunwoo offers a small smile and the lines around his eyes are brittle. the tension bleeds out of her shoulders but she doesn't quite... acknowledge him. between two people like them, it will never be easy. that's what wonho believes.

"i went to see my grandfather again today. he's doing worse. whatever they're trying at the hospital isn't working on him," she wants to spit at his feet and slap his face. of course it doesn't work, the government won't waste their resources on a poor man like hyunwoo's grandfather regardless of the contributions he made to society. hyunwoo is naive or idealistic and the idea of both makes wonho want to throw up.

"if you had listened to me, things wouldn't have been like this," wonho wants to turn her back. she would, if she could, but she can't. it's her fault that uncle son is lying in the hospital, deteriorating day by day, consumed by a disease that the government will never have the science to cure because they cannot embrace the evolution that happened without their permission.

"he doesn't blame you and i don't either. we promised your mother we would take care of you. if he disappeared and recovered, it would have gotten you into worlds of trouble," hyunwoo's voice cracks and wonho flinches, full-bodied, holding back the urge to interfere.

"he's your family," she knows how her words sound like accusations. if she had had a second chance at the day her mother died, she would have done anything to stop it. she can't comprehend how hyunwoo is willing to shelter her at the expense of his grandfather.

she can't understand the soft look in his eyes as his face grows tender and he reaches a hesitant hand out, but stops before he touches.

"you're family too."

 

 

mutation: it is the key to our evolution. it is how we have evolved from a single-celled organism into the dominant species on the planet. this process is slow, and normally taking thousands and thousands of years. but every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward.

the paragraph from an ancient science tome is something wonho can recite in her sleep now. she has to, if she wants to recall it anyway. the book has long been disposed after being sanctioned as taboo by the government. her mother had read from it to her in her childhood and she remembers smiling, giggling in the glowing light amidst darkness, the way her mother was her literal light.

if she knew then what she knows now, she would never have taken comfort in the conjuration or manipulation of light by her mother. she wouldn't have made such a fuss and begged for it every time because it was pretty and special. she would have shut the hell up, because if she knew then what she knows now she would've known her mother would be shot to death by militants for being a mutant.

uncle son was one of the men in the fray that night. he was one of their close neighbours, despite his close affiliations and work with the government, and he'd taken wonho away the moment her mother had been shot. in the darkness of the night, after the beacon had been extinguished, no one had realised there was a sobbing eight year old jumbling the minds of everyone at the scene with her grief.

it had never been her intention for uncle son, but he had been a victim of her trauma and untrained abilities. wonho couldn't have cared less when she'd discovered that she'd inadvertently destroyed the conscious minds of the whole patrol group of men, but the destruction she'd wrought on uncle son was the worst.

when she picked up on his symptoms, faster than anyone else could have noticed the rest of the militants' losing their minds, she had told uncle son's grandson: hyunwoo.

the son family were human just like the government. hyunwoo was five years older than wonho and showed no signs of any mutation, an average 15 year old who was raised only by his grandfather because of the chaos and insanity wrought by the government said caregiver worked for. the government declared war against mutants was destroying humans too.

hyunwoo had taken uncle son and sent him straight to the capital hospital despite wonho's promise to find a mutant with healing abilities to set things right. she was capable, more than competent, but the intrusion into the mind of others meant that she would be declaring herself a mutant and an open target for the militants. the two men (because hyunwoo was far from a boy) had been determined about not allowing wonho come under fire.

there had been improvements in the initial stages, but then years gradually passed and uncle son never got better.

 

 

"she'll figure it out, you know," jooheon points out to hyunwoo as they stroll down the streets towards the bank. 

"she hasn't invaded my privacy so far. i know how it feels like to have her in my head. we both would know if she tried to pry it out of me," hyunwoo grits his teeth and the duffel bag in his hand feels twice as heavy. he wouldn't let wonho find out that they were running out of funds to pay the government with to continue treating grandpa. she blamed herself enough for getting him into that state and she would be angry now because hyunwoo wouldn't allow her to go out and work to earn her keep. there was no way to protect her if she wasn't home or with one of the clan, even if she believed that she could protect herself.

"hyung, if you think that's the only way wonho noona knows you, then big brother has really gotten to you."

 

 

wonho raises her head to minhyuk storming into the little downtrodden apartment that she and hyunwoo occupy. there's a fire in the eyes of her friend that she's rarely ever seen physically, but has brushed against when she's had to delve into the other's mind.

"what's the matter?" she asks and the strength behind minhyuk's gaze seems to triple. normally, she never experiences this sensation, but wonho suddenly gets the feeling of someone pushing against the walls of her mind. it's a familiar touch, though, the firm grip of minhyuk's hand on her arm and she eases her barriers to let whatever the other wants to communicate come through. 

projecting is always a messy thing when it's done without practice. minhyuk has an idea of what he should be doing but he doesn't know exactly how to do it, so wonho gets flashes of the memory in broken bits and shards. hyungwon's bruised face and crushed pride. minhyuk's anger rising from depths he'd never even known he'd had. the two of them pressed against a wall, sharing mingling breaths, intimacy. hyungwon in a white mask, brushing minhyuk away. laughter. yelling. their harsh whispers.

"stop," she cuts off the barrage of memories and turns away, ashamed. it's what minhyuk asked her to do but it doesn't taken away the burn of the shame at having intruded upon their privacies. he doesn't blink at her reaction, only allows her to gather her bearings, before he speaks. 

"i want to find changkyun and i'll need our gasoline rations," it's a bad idea from the onset yet wonho finds herself nodding and expanding her radius anyway, rushing fleetingly through the minds in their vicinity to find changkyun the fastest.

 

 

there's no regret, she thinks to herself as she watches the fire spark to life in changkyun's palms. she had seen for herself how pastor chae had slapped hyungwon in front of all of them, disregarding him as a person and treating the younger male as though he were just another belonging that the pastor owned, misbehaving.

the fire surges through the building and wonho is aware of the sheer unnatural energy that follows it. there's life force and that's how she can trail it through its path from the foundation of the cathedral to the religious symbol perched on the tip with unearned pride. she touches changkyun gently and washes her frazzled mind with peace. it's not easy to commit crime against the government or use your ability to that kind of extent, wonho understands, so she pulls the younger girl into an embrace after they admire their handiwork.

"for hyungwon," she reassures her and feels changkyun deflating in her arms. minhyuk watches the destruction like a statue from a few steps away, eyes fixated on the downfall of the man who has tortured the person he's loved for all of hyungwon's life. it is at this moment that a flare of panic that wonho has compartmentalised as belonging to someone important crashes against her mental shields.

her eyes widen and she pulls away from changkyun.

"hyungwon is inside."

 

 

hyunwoo stares at the folded clothes on the hospital bed that he's visited for years. the scent of his grandfather still lingers and it had felt like home for so long, despite the sharp astringent smell of disinfectant and the constant death that hovered over them like a curse. it was home when he was away from wonho and now it's gone.

"we're sorry but he passed in his sleep," they told him but he doesn't believe it. the bag of money that rests at his feet is just filled with pieces of paper with numbers printed on them now. he sets grandpa's favourite flower on the bed and pours the cash all over the sheets.

he doesn't think. he doesn't think of much at all. all he does is feel. and then it all goes up in flames.

 

 

hyungwon lies in the bathtub filled with water they've collected from the river that flows through the city. minhyuk is in the bathroom with him and wonho sits outside in the barren living room with a shaking changkyun.

"unnie, what have i done?" changkyun has only been with them for a few months, she doesn't understand why they take her in and don't judge her. 

"give it a few minutes, changkyun," wonho steels her own nerves and sends a wave of calm determination through the house. she can sense the fringes of hyungwon's consciousness, so all is not completely lost. minhyuk has never tried something of this scale, near resurrection, but wonho has faith. it's all she has left. she interlaces her fingers with changkyun's and squeezes. it'll be okay.

minhyuk cures. it's the only way wonho knows how to describe it. when any of them comes home bruised or injured by the militants, defending the weak, he places a warm hand to their skin and takes away the pain. hyunwoo has always been her pillar, but it was only when she met minhyuk that wonho started healing internally.

there's an elixir that they've made. it's a combination of what they can do, channelled into something that uncle son has always loved. minhyuk always works better with mediums. and hyunwoo needed a reminder that all his grandfather has done hasn't been for naught. the larkspur that grew in rows and rows in the son family home before the heavy curtain of war fell over it is what they've grinded and liquidized into a healing potion.

hyunwoo had found the flowers, hyungwon had ground them, jooheon had discovered the perfect chemical proportion of the flower and a solvent, then the rest of them had added their mutated touches. changkyun's protection on the seal, minhyuk's healing in the elixir itself and wonho had balanced the explosive mixture that would devastate any person's mind.

that's what minhyuk is using now to bring hyungwon back from the brink of death. their teamwork, their efforts, their blood and sweat and all their sacrifices.

it has to work.

 

 

it's an empty house that hyunwoo returns to and it sends a frission of fear through him. he can't lose both of his homes in one day. not like this. it is that mindless terror that seizes him and sends him scrambling through the city, searching their haunts and the houses of their friends.

it is at minhyuk's house that he finds wonho standing at the entrance and he can breathe.

"where have you been?" he nearly yells at her and she seems unusually surprised. doesn't she already know by now what she means to him?

"what happened to you, hyunwoo?" she lets him sweep her into his arms, in a way he doesn't think he's ever done before. and then he feels her small hands over his face, tracing, worried.

"where have you been, wonho?" he repeats and he buries his face in her hair, drinking her in.

"minhyuk, he destroyed the cathedral. hyungwon was inside, his father had him inside, he almost died. we used the elixir," she murmurs against his cheek, "it worked. but what happened to you, hyunwoo? you're different."

he doesn't know how to tell her. it would destroy her to know that grandpa has died, so he doesn't say. he just holds her close and feels. feels her skin against his skin. feels her breath. feels her fragility. feels her. and she begins to glow.

 

 

wonho lies in her bed, a thin mattress with barely any stuffing anymore, and faces the wall, her heart racing. it's been hours since they left minhyuk's home, leaving hyungwon behind, and dropping changkyun off at the house she lives in with jooheon. hours since hyunwoo came to her, changed, reborn, brand new.

"are you asleep?" his voice comes to her from across the room.

"no," it takes her a minute, but she answers truthfully.

there's the sound of feet shuffling across the ice cold floor with no heating and his warmth envelops her.

she squeezes her eyes shut and curls up against the solid wall of his body. she doesn't have to have her eyes open to see her skin glowing. wonho knows she's not the one doing that. if she stretches out, she can feel hyunwoo's life force trickling across herself. mutate. 

"was there even a body?" she fights to keep her voice from breaking and she succeeds for the most part.

"no," his hands stroke through her hair and she can't come around to why he isn't angrier. she wants to wrap her hands around his neck and tighten, choke, force the anguish out of his soul.

"why don't you hate me?" 

"because you're family too," his hands brush the wetness away from her cheeks and she feels his lips on her forehead, forgiving, in a way it shouldn't be. 

"because now all i have left to me is you."

 

 

jooheon finds her in the midst of a military raid and brings her to them. the militants are crowding the streets and people are being dragged out of their homes, human or mutant, shot in broad daylight.

"what are you doing to me?" she hisses at them defensively, her crutches stripped from her and thrown aside. she's strong, inhumanly so, that it takes three of the guys and changkyun to hold her. hyungwon hangs in the back of the room, face gaunt, and wonho feels a growing headache from all of the mental chaos.

"calm down or i'll make you, we're trying to fix this," wonho bites through gritted teeth and ignores the glance hyunwoo sends her. the girl, kihyun, only struggles harder and wonho doesn't think twice before subduing her and her mind. it won't help any of them if she's fighting against minhyuk when it happens.

why her isn't an important question. they didn't choose and it's not like they go around scouting for people to join their motley crew of lost souls. wonho thinks it's because they all have something they refuse to give up and if someone else comes close to doing that, giving up, none of them will let go.

 

 

"what brought this all together?" kihyun questions one day, when she can stand on her own two feet and crush bigger, stronger men in a single hand. wonho laughs because that question implies there was intent. 

"hyunwoo, i guess. he brought us together," she grins and sharpens her bayonet. "but you know if you ask someone else, the answer won't be the same." kihyun rolls her eyes and flicks a piece of flintwood in wonho's direction.

"so you love him?" kihyun probes and there's no hesitance or holding back. the younger girl isn't the kind to beat around the bush about what she wants to know, even if others feel like it's too much.

"i owe him."

"he loves you," kihyun's straightforward words aren't wrong, but it's not a reality wonho has tried facing.

"we're all dying, kihyun. do you think that's a priority right now?" she deflects and checks the sharpness of the bayonet.

"i think it's a priority because we're all dying, unnie. he deserves to know," it's refreshing how the younger girl never, ever minces her words. there's also her piercing stare that makes wonho feel like kihyun could force her to do the other's bidding though that's not her mutation.

"i'll think about it."

 

 

"hyung, you haven't told noona yet?" jooheon needles hyunwoo as they scavenge through the forest for edible berries, fruits or flowers.

"she's busy. we all are," he plucks a handful of the berries he knows wonho likes and tucks them into his pouch. "there hasn't been a good time to talk about it," he spots another bushful of the berries and he heads towards it.

"none of the rest of us eat that, you know," jooheon helpfully reminds him, so he casually moves onto the next bush to check for other berries. "there's been a lull lately. we haven't been working so hard. you could tell her, if you wanted," jooheon adds as he swings up a tree and plucks a few edible fruits.

"i'm working on it, casanova. come on, it's getting dark."

 

 

she's sitting in the middle of a pile of their uniforms when hyunwoo finds her. her careful hands go over rips and tears, mending them with a metal needle and thread. they're all protecting themselves and each other but she's the one who weaves them clothes and shields them from the conditions.

"busy?" he sits down at the edge of the circle of white splayed around her and she shakes her head, distracted.

"not really, is it something important?" hyunwoo recognises the uniform in her hands as changkyun's. there are always plenty of holes in their youngest member's clothes because of the offensive nature of her abilities but wonho hums to herself as she patches it over with spare cloth.

"not really," he echoes back to her and resists the urge to brush the loose strands of blonde hair back from her face. most of her hair is held back at the nape of her neck by a hair tie he'd fashioned from some stretchy material found in the forests, but wisps frame her face and he can't remember ever not loving her.

a comfortable silence falls over them as he continues watching her stitch and it soothes him to be able to just sit by, observing her as she works. if it were a different time and place, he would be able to imagine her as his wife, simply mending clothes for the night as they prepare to go to sleep. the others would be their children and the house would be filled with laughter.

as it is, they no longer live in a world where people want to raise children together. hyunwoo doesn't know if wonho would want children, anyway. whether they live in this world or another. what can he give her? no safety nor security, no promises of a future together, not a road they can walk with each other until they're old and withered.

"you're my family, you know," he muses to her as she finishes with changkyun's uniform, folding it neatly into another stack away from the mess of other clothes.

"and you're mine. we all are, the seven of us," she sets the needle down and looks at him questioningly. it must seem out of the blue. he gets to his knees and shifts the clothes out of the way, closing the distance between them. he tries never to touch her without her permission and this time is no different.

"is this okay?" he can't take his eyes away from her, every part of her, her walls, her barriers, her compassion, her heart, her drive, her overwhelming strength, more than he would ever have asked from her. and he's breathtaken when she takes the last step towards him, her rosy pink lips tilting up and meeting his.

"i love you," she says and he can't help but smile, because she's never let him do things for her. wonho never takes the easy way out unless it's the only way.

"i love you too," he breathes back to her beautiful soul and what world they're in merely becomes an arbitrary fact of their existence. he has his home, has her and that's enough.

**Author's Note:**

> p.s: i didn't like specify what their abilities were bc this isn't that kind of fixed abilities au where like "dude she has telepathy" or "he has technopathy!!!!!!" they all just have some kinds of abilities and im hecking around and doing what i want so you'll just have to stick around and read to figure out what they can all do


End file.
